Knockdown fruit crate and method of packing it



0- D. GIBBS KNOCKDOWN FRUIT CRATE AND METHOD OF PACKING IT June 5, 1928,

Filed Feb. 9, 1927 Oscar A. 61%;

Patented June 5, 1928. a i UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE... I

oscA D. GIBBS, OF WEBSTER, NEW YoRK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH. To. SWEENEY AND ROLAND, A corARTNEnsrnr CONSISTING. E MIcn EL, E. SWEENEY, 0E BRIGHTON AND ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, AND JOHN G. FOGARTY, or ROCHESTER, NEW YORK. I

KNooxDowN FRUIT CR TE AND METHOD or PACKING IT. Application filed February 9, 1922; Serial no. 167,080.

In packing fruit such as apples, oranges, In the several figures of the drawing like etc. it is desirable to place the fruit under reference numerals indicate like parts.

a slight compression between the walls of The crate is made up of a pair of sheet the crate. A shrinkage in the fruit due to. a metal ends 1 2 which are stamped out a slight drying out of the fruit is thus confrom sheet metal stock of suitable-thickness stantly taken up and experience has taught and weight.. Theseends are,rectangular in. that this prevents the fruit from. getting outlineand eachside-hasa horizontal chanbruised and eliminates the rotting of the nel 3' formed thereon integral therewith. fruit heretofore caused by the bruising of When a. crate is. to be formed with these 10 the fruitd-uring shipment.v ends, they are held spaced apart with the For this reason fruit crates have heretochannels. of one end facing the channels. of fore been provided with so-called spring the other end. The sides 4| and 5 of the tops or covers which when fastened in place crate each formed by" a board are slipped on the: crate-over the fruit temporarily prointo a pair of these opposing channels 3. of

* vide the necessary force for slightly comthe metal crate. ends 1 and 2.. After the pressing the fruit within it. These crates, metal ends and the wooden sides are brought however, have been foundto be too expentogetherin this way two wires. 6 and 7 are sive especially in some sections of the counwound around the ends and sides of the try where the cost of lumber is high and crate in the form of two loops. The ends:

2 have therefore not been universally adopted. of the horizontal channels 3 provided around Furthermore the pressure of the spring top the perimeter of each of the metal ends do after a time gradually diminishes as the top not quite extend the full length of the sides becomes set in its bent form with the result of the ends and thus. provide triangular re- 7 that the pressure onthe fru-i-t is: gradually cesses between adjacent'channels in the. cor- 2 released. 6 ners of the metali'ends. The wires 6 and 7 a The crate forming the-subject matter of are placed into these recesses and are wound my invention: is a spring top crate in aknock around the corners. of the crate by. extenddown structure that overcomes the foregoing diagonally across each of the metal ends.

' ing objections and in addition provides a The free ends of each of the wires are then 30 method of applying the'spring tops to the twisted together as illustrated at 8 in Figcrate and reversing them at any time so that ure 1 and the wire loop formed in this Way after the tops have becomeset, the pressure tightened until the metal ends are. drawn as I from them can be restored to hold the fruit firmly against the ends of the boards. formagain, under constant ressure for a long ing the sides 4 and 5 of the. crate. The

35 period which is desirab'e especially during fr e nd f o of the wires are twisted the cold storage of the fruit. together at one end of the crate. while the The construction of this crate and its 015- free ends of the other wire are twisted tojects. are fully illustrated in the drawings, gether at the other end of the crate. described in the specification and pointed At the same time the ends 1 and 2, of. the

4.0 out in the claims at the end thereofcrate are thusattaehed to the metal ends In the accompanying drawing: of the crate, the bottom 9 of the crate formed Figure 1 is a perspective view of a crate by ith n -tw lighter board may also made up in accordance with my invention be fastened in place between the metal ends. and placed on one side thereof. These bottom boards are simply placed in 45 Figure 2 is a perspective of the ends from their respective channels 3 in the metal. ends which the crate is made'np. I V so that when the ends are drawn together Figure 3 is a longitudinal cross section of by the wires 6 and 7 to hold the sides 4 and the crate with the cover or top thereof in 5 in 'placethey' will'at the'same time also process of being applied thereto, after the hold the bottom in place between the ends. crate, hasbeen packed with the fruit. After the crate is made up in this manner Figure 4 is a to plan View of the appait is packed with the fruit. Apples are illusratus used for applying the spring co er or trated the crate shown in section in Fig,- 1.05 top on the crate. ure 3. These apples are put into the crate with or without a wrapper around them but are packed so that in the middle of the upper layer the apples project above the sides and the channels of the ends of the crate. This is for a purpose that will presently appear. The filled crate is then closed with a pair of boards forming the cover of the crate. These boards are flexible and in order to put them in place into the channels in the metal ends, the apparatus illustrated in Figures and 4: is used.

This apparatus comprises a rectangular iramelO having'the yokes 11 and 12 pivotally mounted at each end thereof. In the middle the rectangular frame is connected by a guide rod 13 on which a pair of hook members 1 1- airdlfi are mounted to slide. The hook portion of these members oppose each other and whenplaced as illustrated in Figure 4 are adapted to engage the under side of one of the boards forming the top of the crate. This is'done by sliding one of the hook members into the pocket 17 formed in the middle of the inside of the rectangular frame so that the frame can be placed over one of the boards with only one of the hook members engaging the under side of the board at one edge thereof. .After the board is positioned with relation to the one hook member, the other hook member is moved against the other side of the board to also engage under it so that the board is now held in the middlebetween the open ends of the hook members and below the guide rod 13. i

The yokes 11. and 12 carry the rollers 18 and 19 at their lower ends and these rollers normally rest on top of the board after it is located under the frame as above pointed out. Theboard in order to engage and enter into the channels 3 of the metal ends must be shortened and this is done by bending the board as illustrated in Figure 8. This is accomplished by swinging the yokes 11 and 12with the rollers 18 and 19 so that the rollers force the ends of the board downwardly while the middle of the board is held fixed by the hook members 14 and 15.

i The bending apparatus with the bent board is then placed over the filled crate and held so that one-end thereof engages into the channel 3 of one of the ends while the other end of the board is in line with the channel f the other metal end. When in this position the yokes 11 and 12 are swung back into their normal position so as to allow the ends of the board to straighten out. In straightening out the end of the board thathas been held in line with the channel 3 of the metal end enters the channel so that both ends of the board are finally located within the opposing channels of the metal ends while the middle portion of the board exerts a pressure on the top layers of the apples that come in contact with it because of the fact that they project above the top channels of the ends and prevent the board from completely straightening out between the ends of the crate. llhe'boards that make up the top and bottom of the crate are preferably thinner than the boards that are used for the sides of the crate. This makes them springy so that when they are placed on the crate they will yield to the apples that'pro lect above the level of the crate and in yielding. provide a constant pressure on the apples for along period.

Should the applesbe stored for a long period so that the top and bottom boards become set in their curved position and no longer exert a pressure on the apples within the crate, the pressure can be restored in thei'e boards by reversing them. For this purpose the apparatus above described is alaced over the boards to en 'ape and bendthem as previously described so that they can be withdrawn from the crate. After the boards are removed they are reversed and are placed into the apparatus and bent' in the reverse direction to be placed on top of the box in this reverse position. By revers ing the boards of both the top and bottom in this way the pressure on the fruit is again restored so that it can. be safely shipped from the storage plant to the retailer orconsumer. I 7

After the contents of the crate are re.- moved the crate is knocked down and the crate returned in the knock down form. F or' this purpose the wire loops 6 and 7 are cut and this releases the metal ends 1'and 12 from the sides 4; and 5 and'from the bottom so that the ends can be placedtogether with the side, top and bottom boards andv form a package that will take up but a fraction of the space required for the crate in its asseinbled form. p

Because of the fact that the top or top and bottom of the crate slightly bulge from the crate it is'necessary to placethe crate on one side when stacking a number of the crates on top of one another. This is illustrated in Figure 1. The metal ends provide the necessary strength to the crate. so that the knock down crate is as strong ifnot stronger than a similar crate manufactured solely from lumber.

I claim:

1. In a knockdown crate for packing fruit, the combination of a pair of metal ends, channels provided on the perimeter of each of said metal ends, a pair of sides adapted to engage opposing chanels insaid ends, and wire loops passingover the corners of both of said metal ends and along the edges of said sides from one of said metal ends to the other to draw the channels of said ends against the endsof said sides and means provided at the corners of said metal ends to hold said wire loops adjacent and parallel to the top and bottom of said sides.

2. In a knockdown crate for packing fruit, the combination of a pair of metal ends, a pair of horizontal channels and a pair of vertical channels provided on the perimeter of each of said metal ends, the ends of said channels being cut away to form a notch at each corner of'both of said metal ends, a pair of sides adapted to engage opposing channels in said ends, and wire loops wound diagonally over said metal ends from one of said cutaway corners to another and along the edges of said sides to 3 draw the channels of said ends against the ends of said sides, a top placed between a pair of opposing channels of said metal ends and held free to allow a limited endwise movement of the ends of the top withi an in the channels engaged by them.

3. In a knock down crate for acking fruit, the combination of a pair 0 metal ends, a pair of horizontal and a pair of vertical channels formed and bent outwardly on each of said metal ends, each of said channels being cut away at each endthereof to form a horizontal slot at each corner of each of said metal ends, sides, bottom and top members engaging into opposing vertical and horizontal channels 0 ends and a wire loop engaging into said horizontal slots and extending from onev metal end to the other between adjacent corners of the side members and bottom member and the side members and'to and within the outer edges of eac members.

of these OSCAR D. GIBBS.

said metal member i In testimony whereof I afiix my signature. 

